image description — The manager of the Sonsini Animal Shelter is hoping a GoFundMe will give the no-kill shelter more time to find a solution to its financing and location problems.

Eleanor Sonsini Shelter Hoping to Buy Time with Community Support

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
01:02PM / Wednesday, August 02, 2023Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Time. That is what the manager of the Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter is asking for.

On Friday, the shelter's board of directors announced on social media that the facility on Crane Avenue will be closing, citing financial constraints and insufficient space.

Soon after, shelter manager Noelle Howland created a GoFundMe page that has since garnered more than $25,000 of its $30,000 goal. Her goal is to buy time and move toward securing a better building.

"Either I buy us time or, hopefully, we will get a good chunk of change and we can stay open and eventually just get out of here," she said.

In 2018, the city pulled its contract to take stray animals to Sonsini and the nonprofit shelter was ordered to leave the municipal-owned building in Downing Industrial Business Park. This brought operations to a smaller location at 875 Crane Ave., which was intended to be temporary.

"People are aware of the conditions we're in," Howland said. "And I don't want to buy time to stay here for good because this is not conditions they should be in."

The shelter needs a generally larger space with more place for the dog kennels, a larger outdoor space for dog pens, a separate area for cats that is not combined with the office, and ideally a place for meet and greets.

The board estimated that $90,000 to $100,000 will be needed to stay open and fund six months of operation. It had originally eyed the end of August for a closing date but Howland was told that even a couple thousand dollars will delay the closing.

Due to the facility's high costs for heating, the board wants to be out of the facility for winter. This means finding homes for the dogs and cats while efforts to save the shelter are underway.

There are currently seven dogs and 12 cats at Eleanor Sonsini and eight cats in foster care.

Howland emphasized the importance of the public being aware of the shelter's needs. Monetary donations, supply donations, and of course adoptions are great ways to support the no-kill facility.

There are a good amount of applications for cats but the staff want to make sure that all of the lovable K9s find a great forever home.

More information on available animals can be found here.

Tags: animal shelter,

iBerkshires.com Text Ads

rk MILES Blding Materials

Are You Ready to Update Your Home? Start With rk MILES. 4 Locations (800)670-7433

www.rkmiles.com

Greylock Youth SummerFest

Come join in on the wealth building fun! August 3-8. Click for event details. Insured by NCUA.

www.greylock.org

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Fenton: Governor's Council Must Deliver for the Berkshires

Community submissionGuest Column
10:22AM / Friday, August 28, 2026

I am a Springfield lawyer running for Governor's Council and I am asking for Berkshire County residents to support me over an incumbent from North Adams.

Here's why: Last year I learned about staffing issues in our regional courts that I could not ignore. In 2025, it was reported that four of Western Massachusetts' 11 Superior Court judgeships were vacant, all at the same time. A few weeks later, that grew to five vacancies. This meant there were only six Superior Court judges serving all of Western Mass at a time when Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden counties had more than 100 pending homicide cases.

Those numbers were alarming to me, so I started to engage with leaders in the community who work most closely with the court system and I came to learn that these vacancies were only the tip of the iceberg here in Berkshire County.

I learned that no Superior Court or District Court judge had been appointed from the Berkshires since the current incumbent took office. As a result, there is not a single Superior Court judge who lives in the Berkshires today, and several of the District Court judges drive in from other counties to support Berkshire courts in Pittsfield, Great Barrington, and North Adams. Court staff also informed me about severe staffing shortages at the Berkshire Clerk of Courts office resulting in other counties needing to loan staff to the Berkshires just so hardworking employees can take a brief and planned summer vacation. This is not normal. These issues are a reflection of genuine problems with the Berkshire County court system and show a lack of proactive attention from our Governor's Councilor.

Instead of focusing on regional equity, I watched as the current incumbent celebrated that she has voted against the governor's nominees more than any other councilor, without much explanation as to why. Most recently, she voted against two extremely qualified former prosecutors for the Parole Board. This was despite an in-person plea from the governor and a letter of support from all the three of the district attorney's from Western Mass. Those votes do not show independence or standing up for principles, they demonstrate naivete, and an unwillingness to work with the key stakeholders.

I had seen and heard enough. I decided to jump in the race and challenge the incumbent to address these problems head-on.

I am a partner of a regional law firm. I understand our courts and the importance of having qualified, fair and hardworking judges. And I know how important it is to have judges from the Berkshires serving the Berkshires. To achieve that, you need strong relationships with the legal community and local stakeholders. You need to know how to use the power of the Governor's Council to fight forcefully for our region. And you need to be laser focused on identifying vacancies before they occur so that they can be filled quickly with local candidates.

View Full Story